Hamertong II
by Sun Crusher
Summary: It's just a contiutation of Hamertong. It's just as good, maybe better than the first part. Rated M.
1. Chapter 1

AN: This is part two of Hamertong. As always, the characters aren't mine as well as the places, technology, ect.

She stood on the hill, alone, watching the flames die down from the destruction she had made. She had black hair and she was wearing jeans and a tang top as black as her hair. Her eyes were ice blue, cold and emotionless. The flames were roaring and threw eerie highlights into her hair, eyes, and clothes. She had her hands clasped behind her back. She never moved.

Shada D'ukal was in the Alderaan System on Wayland . . . again. It was the jungle world she had been on when she had gotten the holocron containing the Hamertong. This time she hadn't been in the jungle, thankfully. She'd visited the palace of an aggravating senator and was now on the fringes of the ironically named Cloud City.

Shada snorted to herself, remembering the way everyone at the senator's house had screamed and tried to run out of the house as it burned and blew up around them. A cold, cruel smile slid across her face. Her mother had taught her so much, and as brilliant as the woman was, she still had no idea what Shada had planned for her. But first there was something she needed the woman for and she would make sure she got what she wanted.

The fire finally died out and Shada turned, making a perfect about-face. She strode over to the edge of the hill and continued walking. She dropped onto the landing ramp of the _Sun Crusher_, her personal ship that she had gotten made just for her. Her father had actually made the order and had made sure that she had gotten everything she wanted on the ship. The _Sun Crusher_ was indestructible, literally. Its armor was made of quantum crystalline, something harder than durasteel and titanium. It was triangular and it had plenty of turbolasers that covered every angle of attack on the ship. The ship was indestructible.

Once up the ramp and in the cockpit, Shada flicked the switch that would raise the ramp. The black and white R2-D4 droid plugged into the control panel gave her an unhappy sounding whistle. "Yeah, but not a direct route. We're gonna take a bit of a detour before going back to Kristi." Shada told the droid. Crusher was another present from her father. Unlike, the _Sun Crusher_, though, Crusher had been with her all the time. Shada could understand the droid when it spoke and it could understand her as well. It was her faithful friend. Her only friend. She didn't allow herself to get close to anyone or anything else except Crusher and the _Sun Crusher_.

The nav-computer beeped at her and she pulled the lever that would take the _Crusher_ into hyperspace. Shada watched as the stars faded into the blue streaks that were always there going into or out of hyperspace. Crusher whistled again. "No, I don't plan to make her upset at me again. And don't start telling me that I should just go strait back to her either. After what she did before, I wouldn't trust her with my life." Crusher whistled an affirmative and said no more.

Kristi had attacked Shada when she'd been ten. Her father always called it The Incident, but that was because even if he hadn't wanted to admit it, he'd still been in love with her. Shada on the other hand, had developed a hate for the woman. When her father and brother, Sky, had been alive, she would refuse to talk about Kristi or the attack. Now though, she nor Kristi ever spoke about it either.

Shada snorted. It was ironic that the woman had tried to kill her and now Shada was taking over the galaxy with her. She and Shada still argued though. That was almost all they did and it drove Kristi's boyfriend, Xander, insane. Kristi and Shada tended to argue in the Mistryl Battle Language and Xander couldn't understand a word they said. Actually, he could never understand a word Shada said because whenever she was around him, Shada made it a point to speak in the Battle Language. He always had to ask Kristi for a translation. Shada found his confusion entertaining. Kristi, however, did not. She was starting to pester Shada to stop speaking in the Battle Language, but Shada had no intentions to do so. After all, she hadn't before, why start now? Besides it infuriated Kristi and that was always fun.

Shada got up out of the pilot's seat and headed into the back of the ship. This was where her room was. She planned to sleep through the hyperspace trip before coming back into realspace where she had programmed the nav-computer to go.

An hour later, the nav-computer beeped at her and Shada got up. She dropped out of hyperspace in the orbit of the planet Dathomir. It was the place where she had gotten a program for the Hamertong, a gigantic laser that Shada and Sky had been sent to get on the Wayland as well as save Sidney, Sky's girlfriend, Scott, and Veronica, Shada's one-time worshiper. They were all dead now, courtesy of Shada. Well Shada and the _Sun Crusher_ really. It had been the _Crusher_'s turbolasers that did it but it had been Shada that had fired them.

Shada hadn't stopped with her friends either. She had taken care of her father and everyone else that had lived in the Mistryl palace on Emberlene. She'd had a blast as she blew the palace to bits and dealt with everyone in it. She had then joined up with her mother, the woman she was going to take care of when she got what she wanted from her.

Shada flew closer into Dathomir airspace and the traffic controller came over the comm. system. "Unidentified ship, state your purpose immediately."

"This is the _Sun Crusher_. I need a place to land and refuel." Shada replied. She decided that she wouldn't get nasty unless they gave her a hard time. She was in a relatively good mood right now anyway.

"Copy _Sun Crusher_. Follow the coordinates to your landing pad." He told her.

"Gotcha." Shada replied. Shada programmed the coordinates she had gotten into the nav-computer. She then brought the _Crusher_ down into the atmosphere of Dathomir. Like last time, the atmosphere on Dathomir had been stormy and clouded. It made landing a challenge for anyone of lesser skills, but Shada had trained enough to know how to navigate and land in such an atmosphere.

Shada landed without a hitch and turned to Crusher. "Stay here with the ship 'kay?" Crusher whistled an affirmative. Shada released the ramp and was heading down it even before it hit the ground. Dathomir was a world with various terrains. It had mountains, desserts, oceans, and unfortunately, forests. Shada had had enough jungles and forests to last her a lifetime but everywhere she went there just had to be a forest or jungle of some kind. It was really annoying when Shada thought about it. Fortunately for her, Shada wasn't going into any forest areas. She was going to a camp in a mountain valley.

A/N: Review!!!!


	2. Chapter 2

Shada had left the space port and was now in the city of Bestin which just happened to be the capital of Dathomir. It was the city where Shada had gotten the program for the Hammertong. Shada was here to see if the Hammertong was actually made or if she'd have to actually make one. Not that it would be hard for her to make one. It would just be time consuming and a bit of an interference with her mother's plans. But at the same time it would be a fun challenge to take on. Privately, Shada was hoping there wasn't one anyway.

Shada turned right into a cantina. It was formally known as The Branded. Informally, it was known as The Office because it was the place where anyone could find someone else . . . if you had the right contacts of course. Shada had plenty of contacts and if they didn't have what she wanted, she would get things her own way. First, she was going to check out her contacts then deal with problems after.

Once inside, Shada went right to the bar. No one even so much as glanced at her. That was good. The inside of the cantina was darker than it was outside, yes, but it was a considerable degree darker than other buildings. This was so if there were any newcomers, they would have to stop to let their eyes adjust before moving into the unfamiliarity of the cantina. It was a surefire way to identify strangers. Shada didn't have that problem because of her eighteen years of training, though. Of course not everyone was _that_ good.

Last time she was here, Shada had been behind some kid. He had clearly not been a native. He had stopped to let his eyes adjust drawing the attention of almost everyone in the cantina. Shada had settled for looking annoyed at the kid, which wasn't all just for show. She had been fairlyagitated with him.

Shada slid onto a stool at the bar and ordered a Tatooine Sun. It was what she usually got whenever she was in a cantina. Her mother said she was too young for it but Shada had never really listened to the woman and didn't intend to start now.

"Ain't you a bit young for one of them, kiddo?" A voice asked behind her. Shada sighed and turned around. She came face-to-face with a smuggler. He was about thirty-five with light-brown hair and eyes that were just as brown as his hair, but darker. He was wearing black leather pants, a black t-shirt, and a black leather pilot's vest. He had a blaster in its holster, low on his hip, the way Shada carrier her blaster. His blaster was a D-Tech 700. His breath smelled like alcohol, but he was not drunk despite the fact that his words were a little slurred.

"No." She replied simply. She turned back to the counter where the bartender had just placed her drink in front of her. The smuggler sat on a stool next to her.

"You need somethin' then?" He asked.

"Not from you."

"Would it help if I gave you my name?"

"No."

"Name's Parker." He went on despite Shada's initial disinterest in him.

"Great so get lost."

"Come on, I just wanna help."

"I said I don't need help." _Geeze, this guy just can't take a hint._ Shada thought. She took a sip of her drink.

"Everyone needs help kiddo." Parker called the bartender over and got another drink. _Great, now he's gonna have a drink with me. Just what I need._

"If I tell you why I'm here, will you leave me alone?" Shada asked giving him an annoyed look.

"If I can't help, you bet. If I can, though, I'll give you what I know, 'kay." He replied taking a huge gulp of his drink. Shada didn't listen to him order it, but it looked like a Corellian Ale.

"Fine." She took another sip and sighed again. "I'm looking for someone named Ashton Evans. Ever heard of 'im?"

Parker thought for a moment. "Sorry, can't say I have, but to make up for it, I'll buy you another drink and some food. How 'bout it?"

"Fine, but then you go."

"'Kay. Hey Willy! Get me a Tatooine Sun and two orders of Babasta Beast." The bartender's answer was a grunt as he went to get the order. Shada sighed. While it was impossible for Parker to actually know Ashton Evans because the man didn't exist, Shada still didn't want to talk with this guy. It would be like spending dinner with her mother without Xander. In short, it would be torture.

An hour later, Shada had finished her Babasta Beast. Parker had tried to get her to talk the entire time. She had pretty much ignored him. He was now too drunk to do anything but keep drinking an talk. All he did was talk. Fortunately, it wasn't to her. He was talking with anyone that would listen and since Shada wasn't listening, he wasn't talking with her.

Shada threw him a glance and got up. He didn't notice her even as she walked out the door. She had gone in the cantina to find someone and she hadn't seen her anywhere. She wasn't worried though; she would find her eventually. No one hid from Shada even if they wanted to.

Shada walked down a back alley that was usually deserted and it was no different this time. The only thing she saw were rats, rats, and more rats. She was brooding about seeing so many damned rats and the only warning she had was her danger sense going of like the proximity alarm on a ship in hyperspace. As soon as it went off, Shada dropped into a low crouch. Blaster bolts flashed through the space where her head had been.

"_Shassa._"Shada snarled. She drew her blaster, but didn't see anyone around. That was not good. She stretched out her senses the way her mother had taught her. The only thing she sensed were the rats. That was even worse. Shada rolled into a side passage in the alley. It was a dead end.

"Pretty good, Sha. I didn't think you'd dodge my attack. Especially seeing the way you were so interested in scowling over a bunch of rats."

"Lucky for you, I didn't actually get hit. You might be dead now if it had." Shada replied rising and coming out of the passage. "If you wanted to talk to me though all you had to do was approach me.

Brianna, you should know better than to shoot at me. You've seen what happens to others who have."

"Oh. I know. I just wanted to see whether two years has improved your skills." Brianna

Tesler said, stepping into the alley. She wore a smuggler's outfit of a gray jumpsuit that didn't have any markers on it. She wore military styled combat boots that she made a point of keeping shined and she always kept her long brown hair in a ponytail with an elastic that matched her jumpsuit. Her eyes also matched the jumpsuit and Shada was positive that she dressed that way on purpose because she felt all the matching would unnerve most people. Of course, Shada wasn't most people. "So what brings you back to my desolate home world again, Sha?" Brianna asked.

"You, Bre. I was wondering if you had the information I wanted." Shada asked, never removing her gaze from the other woman's face after she had measured the other woman with her gaze.

"You of all people should know that I don't just _give_ information away."

"You do if you want to live."

"You gonna kill me?"

"If I have to, yes." Shada smirked at her. "I suggest you don't give me a reason to kill you."

"Come on, we'll talk. I'm not making any promises though."

"I don't ask for promises, I ask for results."

"You don't ask, Sha. You demand." Brianna led Shada out of the alley the way she had come. "So what is it you want to know?"

"You remember the Hammertong?"

"The thing you came here for two years ago? Yes."

"Well, I was hoping you'd know whether one had been built and if it had where it was."

"You planning to go steal it if there is?"

"Yup."

"You're a brave kid, ya know."

"And you're a pain in the ass."

"I try." They reached Brianna's apartment and she let Shada in.

"_And I thought my mother's place was a dump._" Shada murmured in the Mistryl Battle Language.

"What?" Brianna asked, glancing up at her. She was older than Shada by four years and was shorter than her by four inches.

"Nothing." Shada gave her a cocky smile. It was supposed to be warm, but that was an impossibility for Shada. Her smile was always cold no matter how warm it was supposed to be. Shada could see the older woman wasn't reassured at all.

"Okay." Brianna turned and headed into the kitchen. "Want some hot chocolate?"

"Yeah, okay."

"All right. Sit at the table or on the couch."

"You're not my mother so don't order me around." _Not that she can either._ Shada thought.

"Sorry." She gave Shada an apologetic smile as Shada slid into a seat at the table. Shada just grunted.

"So why weren't you in The Office?" Shada asked.

"I was actually on my way there. I just landed ten minutes ago, saw you and decided to have a bit of _fun_."

"Yeah, _fun._"

"Anyway about the Hammertong." Bre brought two mugs of hot chocolate and put one in front of Shada and sat down herself. "No there isn't one built, but if you plan to build one it's gonna take a lot of credits . . . more than you've got."

"And how would you know how much I've got?"

"I don't, but I do know that buying all the parts to build one costs a lot, and I mean a lot, of credits."

Shada snorted. "There are ways around that. You sure there isn't one built?"

"Not one. If there was, I'd know about it. Since I don't there isn't one." She took a sip of her drink. "I don't suppose you're gonna pay me."

"Your life is payment enough, don't you think?"

"I was hoping you'd be generous."

"I don't do generous." Shada got up and finished her hot chocolate. "You should know that, Bre." Shada headed for the door. Brianna followed her and opened the door.

"If you're ever around do me the favor of bringing me money, Sha." Bre said. If she hadn't been joking, Shada might have rounded on her then and there. Instead, Shada tossed her a credit chip. "I thought you don't do generous."

"I don't that's for the hot chocolate." Shada smirked and left, heading for the valley of the Nightsisters of Dathomir. While Shada had everything she came for, it didn't hurt to stop by and see if she could get anything useful from the women and the slaves, the men.

Brianna stood watching Shada leave. She sighed. Shada was one hell of a character, but she was also a friend . . . to a degree. And Bre didn't refuse to help a friend when they needed it. Shada had actually left her money this time. Last time she hadn't even bothered; she'd just stared her down and unfortunately for Bre, she couldn't stare down the younger woman especially since she was shorter than her. _I should consider myself lucky for keeping my life. Getting a couple credits is just a bonus._ She sighed again and closed the door. Shada had disappeared around the corner while she had been musing.

A/N: Review!!!!


	3. Chapter 3

Shada reached the valley of the Nightsisters of Dathomir just before dark fell. That meant she would be staying the night which meant that she would take even longer to reach her mother. Kristi wouldn't be happy about that, but she would have to deal with it. Shada wasn't worried about her.

She was greeted by a woman a little older than her. One year to be exact. She was dressed like everyone else in the valley, black armor with black boots and an assortment of weapons. "Shada, what brings you to our wonderful valley . . . again."

"The Hammertong . . . again." Shada said smirking at her. "You don't seem very happy to see me,

Faith."

"Well, I was waiting for someone else and I have to admit, your presence within the Force is a bit . . . unsettling. But like always it's a pleasure to see you."

"Of course it is." Shada smirked at Faith. "Brook around?"

"She doesn't leave much so she's always here." Faith gave her an identical smirk. "Come on." She led Shada to a tent in the middle of the valley.

"Faith, who is it?" A voice called from the tent.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness." Faith said, entering the tent and letting Shada in. "Shada D'ukal wishes to see you."

"Shada?" Brook

O'Harra asked. "What brings you here?" She was now looking at Shada. She had black hair and blue eyes like Shada, but her eyes weren't as cold and emotionless as Shada's, and Brook's eyes cracked with the Force all the time. Shada was sure that this was because the woman spent so much time using the Force so the Force was constantly alive inside her.

"Well, I was looking for items dealing with the Hammertong." Shada told her with a raised eyebrow.

"Again with the Hammertong?" Brook asked. She got up from her seat in the middle of the tent. "Why are you so interested in the Hammertong?" She approached Shada and was looking directly at Shada. The two women were the same height.

Shada smiled at the Nightsister's leader, thirty year old Brook O'Harra "It's a superlaser, why wouldn't I be interested in it."

Brook chuckled. "I should have know. You want to build one of your own." She headed back to her seat. "You will have what you want. Faith, see that Shada has a place to sleep."

"Yes Ma'am." Faith bowed and led Shada out.

Faith led Shada to a tent less than a meter away from Brook's tent. It was the same tent she had slept in last time, but that was okay. That meant it would be the same way she had left it, empty. Faith let Shada in and she nodded thanks at her. Faith smiled. "I'll come get you when Brook wants you. As I'm sure you know you're free to explore as long as you stay out of our way."

"I know, Faith. Thanks. See you 'round." Shada replied. Faith left and Shada turned and looked around the tent. Not only was the tent empty like last time, everything was _exactly_ the way she had left it two years ago. The tent had never been used in the past two years.

To the far left was the holoscreen Shada had used briefly when she'd been here. To the far right was the trunk she had put her stuff in. The pictures that had been hung on the walls were still there in the same order Shada had put them when she'd been here. It was all the same. Even the middle of the tent. The cot was still in the middle of the room and still had the same blankets it had when she'd been here the only difference being in the fact that the sheets had been changed which meant that the blankets had no doubt been washed. The tent had been taken care of in other ways than the bed. There were other ways the tent had been maintained as well. Th pictures were free of dust as was the holoscreen and the trunk. There was no dirt on the rug that covered the dirt floor. The tent was cleaned on a daily basis.

Shada grunted and tossed her bag on the cot. Crusher whistled at her. "No. I'm not gonna unpack now." He whistled again. "Faith said I could explore." She smiled. "And I plan to." Crusher gave a long whistle. What am I going to do? It asked. "I don't care, find a place to plug in, come with me, or just shut down to save your power. 'Kay?" He whistled an affirmative, but didn't tell Shada what he planned to do. That was okay though. She wasn't worried about him. He could take care of himself . . . most of the time. "Hey, just don't get that Intellex VI brain of yours fried. Understand?" Another affirmative. She sighed and left the tent.

Once outside, Shada headed over to the small stream flowing idly down the left of Brook's tent. At this time of day, it would be mostly empty. That was good. Shada didn't want to be around anyone but Crusher and right now, he was busy. Shada had reached the edge of the stream and gazed at the water. She didn't see the water though, she saw the flames of destruction that she had spent so much of the past two years making. She had spent the past two years having fun making them.

"Like thinking too, D'ukal?" A voice asked from behind her.

"Not thinking, enjoying . . . sort of." Shada replied. She didn't turn to face her questioner.

"I see." Her questioner snorted softly. "And how often do you 'enjoy' without thinking?"

"Whenever I've got the time and no one interrupts. Luckily for you, Ross, I don't get that chance very often and when I do, I don't mind being interrupted." Shada replied finally turning to face the other woman.

Rebecca Ross was shorter than Shada, but not by much. She had blond hair that always seemed to shine even in the dark. Her eyes were a soft gray that in contrast to her hair, never seemed to shine anywhere, light or dark. It was something that often made others nervous the way that some people became nervous when they saw Shada's lack of emotions. Like all the other women in the valley, she was dressed in the black armor and boots.

Rebecca smirked at her. "So what brings you here?"

"Here as in the camp or the stream?"

"Either, or."

"Wouldn't you like to know."

"Ah, the Hammertong."

"That obvious?"

"Actually a lucky guess." Rebecca smirked again. "Besides, the only thing you've been here for is the Hammertong. Why else would you be here unless you're trying to hide from your mother."

Shada whirled on her. "I don't need to hide from her. As soon as I finish with her, she's gonna die. Just like she should have when she tried to kill me before. And this time, there's no one to stop me."

Rebecca held her hands up, palms outward. "Whatever you say, I was just wondering whether you got tired of taking orders from her."

Shada gave a sharp bark of laughter. "I don't take orders from anyone anymore."

Rebecca snickered and turned to leave. "I have work to do, see you later." She left, leaving Shada alone by the stream again.

Now that she was alone, Shada let her thoughts drift. She didn't care where they would go and didn't try to stop their progress. That would have been pointless. So she was surprised when they turned back to the Senatorial house she had destroyed. It had been similar to the way she had destroyed the Mistryl Palace back on her home planet of Emberlene. She had blown each separate wing of the palace and trapped everyone inside. She had then killed them all with her lightsaber. It was the same lightsaber her mother had used. She hadn't given it to her. Shada had taken it and now refused to give it back. Not that Kristi Drake D'ukal had asked for it back. Kristi hadn't even seemed to mind when she found out that Shada had kept it after the fight they'd had. A fight that had almost gotten both of them killed.

Millions of light-years away, Kristi Drake D'ukal was seething as her boyfriend, Xander, cooked diner. "Where in space is she? She should have been here yesterday!"

"Maybe things took longer than she expected, Kristi." Xander said. He sighed. Kristi had been ranting whenever she wasn't eating or sleeping for the past day.

"I don't care if she got hung up. She should have at least called."

"Why don't you come down and when she gets home, take it up with her?" Xander told her, putting a plate of food in front of her. She glared at him but didn't say anything. He sat down and ate with her and when they were done, they went to sleep for the night.

A/N: Review!!!! FYI: Flames just piss me off and result in all things BAD!!


	4. Chapter 4

AN I don't own any Star Wars characters, places, technology, ect. PLEASE R&R and no flames.

Night was falling over the Nightsister's camp and Shada was still at the stream, staring into oblivion. She was brought out of her thoughts as a soft growl came from across the stream. Bringing her gaze back, she saw a black wolf across the stream growling at her. It was male and from the size of it, Shada would have guessed that it was the leader of a pack. It advanced toward her slowly as if it thought it could actually kill her.

At the edge of the bank, it stopped and stood, staring and growling at her. It could no doubt sense that she was far stronger than she looked. It stared at her for a minute longer, than walked up to her. It had stopped growling. It then lay down and rolled over onto its back. It was surrendering itself to her. She snorted and headed back to her tent. The wolf followed her.

"There you are, Shada." Faith said, heading toward her as Shada neared the tent. She looked a little bit worried.

"Relax, I didn't run away. Not when Brook might have something I want." Shada replied, giving her an amused sneer.

She returned it. "I see you've picked up a friend."

Shada arched her eyebrow. "The wolf? I didn't pick it up. It walked up to me at the stream and is now following me. I plan to dump it in with Crusher . . . maybe."

"Well, I don't care what you do with it, but Brook wants to talk with you during diner."

"Fine, just let me drop off my . . . tail." Shada headed into the tent and the wolf followed her. She turned to the wolf. "You're gonna stay in here, got it?" It growled once. "Crusher, don't let the wolf destroy anything or leave, 'kay?" The droid whistled an affirmative. Shada left the tent without another word.

"I see you got it to stay." Faith said. Shada snorted and followed Faith into Brook's tent.

"Shada, I trust you kept yourself occupied. I'm sorry I wasn't able to get to you sooner, but I have been looking for what you've requested." Brook said as she got Shada a place to sit.

"Of course." She sat and Brook sat down opposite her.

"Faith, bring us something to eat and something for yourself." Brook ordered.

"Yes Ma'am." Faith left.

"You gonna let her listen in?" Shada asked.

"Yes, I'm grooming her to take over so I let her listen in and give input sometimes. You would be excellent training for her."

"I'm thrilled."

"Well, it's you're own fault. If you weren't so hard to deal with, I might not let her stay, but you are so she stays."

"And I'm honored to be able to listen to you deal with Shada." Faith said as she set plates down in front of Shada and Brook. She then set up a place for her self.

"So, Shada, I have a contact that can get you whatever you need for the Hammertong. All we need to do now is discuss how much you're willing to pay." Brook said.

"Well, how much are you offering first." Shada asked, giving Brook a polite, but cold smile.

"Considering the knowledge that you have the ability to kill everyone within the vicinity of the entire valley, I'm willing to start you off with . . . 30,000 credits." Brook replied, giving Shada the same smile.

Shada smiled at the thought of killing everyone here. "25,000." She said.

Brook thought about it then looked over at Faith. "What do you think?"

Faith looked over at Shada. "I think that's pushing it even for Shada."

Brook smiled at Shada. "You see why I want her to take over? She's as perceptive as you are. Well, that and she is just as vindictive as you can be too."

"You forgot to mention that she knows me better than anyone else here . . . well anyone else except you." Shada told her.

"Yes, you and Faith are very similar." Brook agreed. "So 25,000 credits. Before you go would be nice."

"I always give you the money before I go, don't I?" Shada countered raising her eyebrows.

"She's right, Ma'am." Faith said. Brook's answer was a soft snort. They spent the next hour talking and finishing their diner. Then Faith took Shada back to her tent. "So, how long are you planning on staying?" Faith asked at the entrance of the tent.

"Brook said she'd take me to her contact tomorrow, so I guess I'll go once I get the stuff aboard the _Sun Crusher_." Shada replied.

"You bringing the wolf with you?"

Shada thought about it. "Yeah, I suppose I have to give it a name too."

"Call it Midnight."

"I prefer Fang. Sounds more vicious."

Faith snorted. "Sounds just like you. 'Night."

"'Night." Shada went inside and was instantly greeted by the wolf. "Hey there, you've now got a name. You get to come home with me too." _Won't Kristi love this._ "Crusher, keep an eye on Fang during the night." Crusher whistled at her. "Yes, I plan to sleep." Crusher whistled an affirmative. Shada smirked and lay down on the cot. She was asleep in an hour.

The next morning, Shada was up at dawn. The sun made the dark-blue sky a brilliant, bright red with faint streaks of orange. It was an effect Shada had seen plenty of times back home. It was also the only time Shada would ever be truly alone because everyone else was sleeping. Even here everyone was asleep.

Shada went over to the stream again. It was running faster than yesterday, but that was because it had rained last night. Shada could tell that the ground was wet even though she couldn't feel it through her black, steel-toed shoes. Also the ground wasn't soft enough to sink beneath her weight. But she could still see the water sparkle off of the grass in the early morning light.

She looked out at the stream and was greeted by Fang. He had followed her, probably looking for food, to the edge of the stream and now tried to get her to pet him. _Now, he's like a big black dog._ Shada thought.

She sighed and wondered what Kristi would think about the wolf when Shada brought it back. _She'll probably try to get me to take it back._ Shada snorted. "To hell with that." She glanced down at the wolf. "You're here to stay, buddy." Fang gave a soft arf. She would keep the wolf even if she had to fight Kristi to do it. _If we fight, the results will be a whole lot better than last time._ This thought triggered the memory of the fight and Shada tried to shove it away like she normally did, but this time it wouldn't go. Shada didn't like thinking about the fight when she had things to do because it tended to make her more moody than usual. And more often than not, her moods tended to lead to violence. She also tended to get angry faster when she was moody. Unfortunately, the memory just wouldn't go away even for a couple hours so she would probably be snappy at everyone she saw today. Shada decided to let the memory come. The fight had been pretty fun anyway. And despite what Kristi thought, Shada _had_ won in the end.

A/N: Review!!!!


	5. Chapter 5

She was in the training room inside the Mistryl Palace on Emberlene. Her black hair was tied back in a ponytail and her black, steel-toed shoes were tossed in the corner with her black jean jacket. She wore a black tang top and black jeans. She was breathing evenly despite the light layer of sweat on her face. The other woman in front of her, however was all but panting and the ten-year-old could see that the older brown haired woman was getting tired.

"Wanna call it quits?" Shada D'ukal asked, her ice blue eyes boring into the older woman's.

"Is it that obvious I'm winded?" Holly Morris asked.

"Painfully."

"Then we call it quits." Holly shook her head. "I'm getting too old for this." She began to pick up her jacket and shoes.

Shada tilted her head. "You're not _that_ old."

"Not usually, but fighting against you, even if it is training, makes me feel old." Holly gave Shada a wry smile. "You're like a loose cannon now, just wait 'til you get older."

"When I get older, I'll be able to force my way to get whatever I want and unlike the Eleven, I'm not gonna hold back." Shada replied, her eyes dancing with amusement at the thought.

"And for some reason, I'm still not scared." Holly grinned at her and left, leaving Shada alone in the training room with her jacket and shoes still in the corner. Shada headed toward her stuff.

"Wait Shada." A voice called. She didn't recognize the voice even though she knew everyone in the Palace. She whirled around to come face to face with an older version of herself. The only difference was in the other woman's eyes. They were a cold green, not a cold blue.

"Who are you?" Shada asked, slowly edging to a decent fighting range where she would be able to strike without getting too badly hurt if she didn't make the first move. She would also be able to block easily from farther away.

"You don't remember me? Pity." She gave Shada a measuring look. "I'm your mother."

"Dad said you were killed." Shada told her, shaking her head. "You can't be my mother."

"Come on, don't be so naive." The woman gave Shada a scrutinizing look. "How else would I look almost exactly like you?"

"Wicked good plastic surgery?" Shada shot at her, turning back to her stuff. She shouldn't do that, but this woman didn't seem to be any immediate danger . . . right now anyway.

The woman snorted. "The name Kristi Drake D'ukal sound familiar?" Shada inhaled sharply. That was her mother's name all right. _That means Dad lied to me._ Shada thought with a hot rush of anger rushing through her.

"Fine, so you know my mother's name. That still doesn't prove anything." Shada glared up at her.

"You've got an older brother, Sky, and you've also got a desk. It's been in your room since you were born. It's dark brown with seven draws. It also has a long scratch down the top of it." Kristi told her.

"So you can describe my desk. That means you've seen a picture of it somewhere." Shada retorted.

"There's only one desk like that and I think you know that. Also, the scratch starts at the top right-hand corner and ends at the bottom left."

Shada turned back around, her eyes wide. "You really are my mother." Her voice was just above a whisper. Then just as fast as it had gone, her guard was back up. "What the hell are you doing here then?"

"Oh, that, I came here to kill you." Kristi said with no emotion in her voice what-so-ever.

Shada was so surprise her mouth actually fell open. "To kill me? You've gotta be joking. What the hell have I ever done to you?"

"Nothing really, but if I let you live, that decision might come back to haunt me."

"I'm not gonna just let you off me just like that." Her defenses were back up and she was now in what she called full-combat mode. Every bone in her body was ready to attack and every muscle was tensed. Kristi gave no warning but suddenly lashed out at her. Shada, however, was already there blocking a blow that would have knocked here senseless if it had hit.

"Not bad. I hope that's not all you've got." She attacked again, but instead of a blow to the head, it was with her foot that Shada was easily able to dodge then follow up with her own attack. She hit her mother in the stomach driving her back. Shada didn't let up. She kept throwing punches and kicks at her mother, but all were blocked, to her frustration.

"That all you got?" Kristi asked, raising an eyebrow at her. Shada scowled at her. Then things switched. Shada suddenly found herself on the defensive blocking left and right. She couldn't believe she was capable of blocking so fast. Of course this was easy, they would just trade off between offensive and defensive until one of them got tired. The only problem would be if her mother drew a weapon.

"_Shassa_." Shada snarled. This was not working. She was now in half a choke hold. _How the hell did this happen?_ She thought. Fortunately, her mother didn't have a perfect hold because Shada had brought a forearm up and had it between her throat and her mother's forearm. _This isn't good, I'm at a disadvantage. _She thought. _Well, duh, that's why she showed up now, because I'm tired from training with Holly._ Shada snorted. _I hate being at a disadvantage._ She threw her head back and connected with her mother's face. That broke the choke hold and Shada planted her foot in the woman's gut. Kristi doubled over. "Hurt didn't it?" Shada sneered down at her.

"A little, yes." Kristi got up. Shada saw she had a knife in her hand. _Oh, shit._ Shada thought. _This is gonna git messy._ Her mother brought the knife down in a downward arc. It just barely missed Shada as she jumped out of the way. Shada rolled out of the way from her mother's next attack and came up with her own knife. _Things are really gonna git messy now._ She thought.

★ ★ ★

An hour later, Shada and Kristi were standing opposite each other. Both were breathing hard and both had various scratches from the knives. Shada had lost her hair tie and her hair was hanging in front of her face. She was glaring at her mother and her mother glared back. Both had rips in their clothing and both had a long scratch down the side of their faces.

"Not bad. I thought you'd at least be a little tired after training earlier, but I guess I misjudged you." Kristi told her. Instead of answering Shada attacked her. Moving faster than the human eye could follow. Moving faster than she ever thought she could have gone. Her mother was right, she was a little tired from training, but she was now running on adrenaline and that gave her the strength she needed to keep fighting. Her mother, however, was able to block her and attack on her own. _This is crazy. It's like she knows what I'm gonna do and when I'm gonna do it._ Shada thought.

Instantly her mind flashed back to when she was training with Sky and their instructor had told Sky that he thought too much. He should rely on instinct and act not think about how to take his opponent out. Shada switched gears and let her fighting instincts take over. Suddenly she was forcing her mother to defend against her attacks and the woman was having a hard time with it. _She can't predict my moves if I don't know what I'm gonna do before I make it._ Shada thought.

★ ★ ★

Another hour later, both Kristi and Shada were bloody and out of breath, but neither one was going to back away and let the other walk. Too much depended on this. If either one lost, she would be dead and neither one was ready to die yet. Yet both women were close to passing out. It was now just a matter of waiting the other one out and seeing who would get to kill the other. Shada, however, was not interested in waiting. She wanted, no, she _needed_ to finish this now. She attacked and her mother just barely blocked it. They went back into the rhythm of offense and defense for another five minutes before the door opened and Alex D'ukal stepped in. Neither one noticed.

"ENOUGH!" He shouted.

Shada whirled around. "Dad!" She slid the knife out of sight, hoping her father didn't see it. Kristi dropped her to the floor with a roundhouse kick, close to the floor, knocking her feet from under her.

"Hello, Alex." Kristi said. She didn't even try to hide the knife.

"Kristi, I thought you had left." Alex said. He ignored Shada completely.

"I did. I just had some unfinished business to take care of so I came back. I had hoped we wouldn't run into each other, though."

"Unfinished business?" He raised his eyebrow. "Like trying to kill our daughter?"

"It's nothing personal, Alex, she's just better off dead." Kristi gave Alex a gentle smile. Shada was fairly certain that both adults had forgotten her and she could slip out unnoticed, but she wasn't sure that was a good idea. Her father looked pissed.

Alex looked down at Shada. _Maybe they haven't forgotten me after all._ She thought. "Leave Kristi. I don't want to see you here again." He didn't meet his wife's eyes, but continued to look at Shada. Shada was beginning to get uncomfortable.

"Really Alex, you're that mad?" Kristi asked, her gaze falling to Shada.

"You're trying to kill my daughter." He replied. He looked up at her. "Leave."

Kristi shrugged. "Fine. Goodbye Alex." She headed toward the door. At the door she stopped and turned to Shada, looking the ten-year-old in the eyes. "_I'm not going to let this go, Shada. I'll get you when you least expect it."_ She said in the Mistryl Battle Language. Alex had no clue what she said. With that Kristi Drake D'ukal left.

"Shada, are you okay?" Alex asked his daughter. She looked up at him, her face sweaty and blood staining most of her clothes. She was still breathing hard.

"Yeah, Dad. I'm fine." She got up and swooned. She would have fallen if her father hadn't caught her and she gave him a soft smile of thanks.

"Let's get you to the med. center." He said and picked her up. For once in her life she didn't argue, just let him carry her out of the training room. She passed out half way down the corridor and was unconscious when her father put her in the med. center bed.

A/N: Review!!!!


	6. Chapter 6

"Mornin' Shada." Someone said from behind her, bringing Shada back from her memory of the fight with Kristi.

"Hey, Faith." She replied.

"You okay?" Faith asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, fine." Shada glanced at Faith. "Brook want me?"

"Yup, she wants to take you and me to her contact." Faith smiled at her. "I think she's gonna want the money too."

Shada snorted. "I got that taken care of." Faith didn't reply, just led Shada to Brook's tent.

"Shada glad to see you're up early." Brook greeted her.

Shada glanced at her chrono. She'd been by the stream for two hours. She hadn't realized it was _that_ long. "I've been up for three hours." She told Brook.

"Great, so then you're ready to go?" Brook asked as she used the Force to bring an old looking water bottle to her.

"Yup." Shada replied. She took a black pouch out of her pocket. "I imagine you'll want your 25,000 credits."

"Of course." Brook used the Force to bring the pouch to her after Shada had tossed it. She then let Faith lead her and Shada out of the tent. They were met by Fang and Crusher. Fang had Shada's black backpack in his mouth. It was closed and the clothes she'd stuffed in it were back in. Crusher had packed it.

"Good job Crusher." Shada told the droid. Fang whined. Shada rolled her eyes. "Good boy Fang." She told him. Shada turned back to Crusher. "_Did you pack everything of mine?_" She asked in the Mistryl Battle Language. Crusher whistled and affirmative.

"All set?" Brook asked.

"Yeah." Shada replied. She followed Brook and Faith to the edge of the camp. Crusher and Fang following her. That was okay though. They walked through the valley to a cave. _Course, someplace with only one way out. Protected from an outside attack, but also inconvenient if I suddenly decide to kill them all because of the lack of space._ Shada thought.

Shada was surprised that the were greeted by a man of about twenty-five. He had sandy blond hair, with a tanned face. He was wearing white clothes and to Shada, he looked like a farmboy from Tatooine. "Carson, this is Shada D'ukal." Brook said. She turned to Shada. "Shada, Carson Garcíía." He held out his hand and Shada glanced at it with a raised eyebrow. "Don't mind her, she doesn't like to deal with people . . . at all." Brook told him.

He smiled. "Not the first client like that I've had." He then led them into the cave. _Definitely a farmboy._ Shada thought, but she followed none-the-less.

After getting seats for them, he turned to Shada. "So, Brook tells me you're looking for parts to build a superlaser." Shada nodded. "Not one to talk much?" Carson asked with a smile.

"Forget the small talk. Do you have what I want or not?" Shada asked, allowing her impatience and annoyance to show in her voice.

His smile vanished. "Sure, whatever you say." He dug out a datapad and brought up a list of parts. "These are all the parts you're gonna need to build one minus the huge power source." He told her, handing the datapad to her. "All in all, I'd say it's gonna cost about a million credits even." Carson then glanced at Brook, who shook her head at him. "But since you're a friend of Brook's, I'll lower it to half a million, no shipping."

Shada glanced up at him, running figures through her head. "35,000. No more, no less." She told him. His mouth fell open and Brook took his arm and shook her head again. He stared at Brook for a minute then sighed.

"Fine, you've got a deal, but you're gonna have to pick the parts up on your own." He finally said.

"Deal. Take me with you and five minutes after we get there, I'll get them on my ship." Shada replied.

"Uh, okay." He said. Carson stood up. "Pleasure doing business with you." He said, shaking Faith's and Brook's hands. He led them out of the cave. He then led Shada to his landspeeder and offered his hand to help her get in. Shada ignored it.

Brook and Faith began to walk away. "I hope we see you soon Shada." Faith called, giving the younger woman a smile.

Brook snorted. "Not too soon I hope." She followed Faith back to the Nightsister's camp.

"Well let's get going." Carson said, climbing into the landspeeder in the driver's seat. "I hope you're ship's going to be able to handle everything."

"The _Crusher_ can handle anything." Shada replied in a tone that inferred she wasn't in a mood to talk.

The trip to Carson's warehouse took little more than half an hour. Carson had tried, on various occasions, to initiate conversation with Shada, but she had easily ignored him. She was not in the mood to talk. Fang had curled up at the base of Shada's feet and Carson had been intimidated by the wolf until Crusher had gotten Fang to go into the back of the landspeeder. While that had improved Shada's mood a little, it still hadn't been enough to get her to talk.

As they pulled up to the warehouse, Shada's first thought was the way Kristi's house had looked two years ago. Shada's thoughts about the house then had been that it was a shack and she had blatantly told her mother that the place looked like a dump. The warehouse was the same only it had walls that looked like they could stand against a violent wind storm. Kristi's place had not. It had looked like it could be pushed down and that it was going to fall any second.

"Here we are." Carson said, bringing the landspeeder to a stop and getting out. He came around to Shada's side of the speeder to help her out, but she was already out and he had to settle for lifting Crusher out. Fang leapt out behind her and Carson almost fell over his own feet trying to get out of the way.

He then led Shada inside and she could see that the inside wasn't much better than the outside. The place was a mess. There were boxes and crates everywhere and most of the parts there weren't even in them. Workers were running around looking for various parts and supplies, and the entire place, in general, was just total chaos. But Carson had what Shada wanted, so she would hold off on condescending comments . . . for now.

"This way." Carson led Shada over to a small room that was isolated. He had to wind his way around crates, boxes, and junk to get there. Once inside, he got a chair for Shada and sat behind his desk. It reminded her of her father's desk with everything piled up on it. The only difference was that Shada could see over Carson's.

Shada ignored the chair and stood next to the now closed door. She had been trained to make sure she was close to any exit and standing next to the door was close to the exit. "I imagine you want the credits first." She said.

"Yes, that tends to be how I do business." Carson replied. If he was intimidated by her abruptness, he hid it well . . . this time.

Shada turned to Crusher. "Come on, out with you." The droid twittered. "I know, but I told you to give me it." Crusher seemed to sigh, then he extended an arm and holding a credit voucher. "Good Boy." Shada told him. She set the controls and handed it to Carson. "35,000 credits, now where are the parts?"

He took the voucher and looked at it. Once satisfied, he got up and opened the door. "Right this way." He held the door open until Shada was out, then led her though the maze of junk to a secluded area. This room was neater in the sense that things were stacked against the wall, but it still had all the same junk in it as the rest of the warehouse. It also had a large garage door which meant that the room was a loading bay of some kind. _At least I can walk in it._ Shada thought. "Your stuff is right over there." He pointed to the right-hand corner. There were several crates stacked up. "You want to take a look."

Shada eyed him and could feel that he was in no way pulling any jokes on her. "No, the _Crusher_ will be here in a minute. Give or take." Crusher whistled at her. [Then are we going home? "Yes." She answered him.

"Okay. I'll help you load them on." Carson offered.

"That's okay. I prefer to keep everyone else off my ship." Shada said. She had never let her father or her brother on the _Sun Crusher_ without her with them and she didn't plan to let this complete stranger aboard even with her. A few seconds later, Shada heard the _Sun Crusher_ land. "That's my ship." Carson nodded and opened up the garage door.

"Wow." Carson breathed. The _Sun Crusher_ stood just outside the door. It was shaped like a triangle and was painted entirely black. There were no visible weapons emplacements, but that was because Shada preferred to have her weapons hidden away from the naked eye. Actually it was from anything. Her weapons could never be detected by any scanner, not even her own if it were located outside the ship. Shada snickered at Carson's awe and lowered the boarding ramp. It came down smoothly and without a sound. Shada picked up a couple of crates and brought them aboard the _Sun Crusher_. "You sure you don't want help?" Carson called.

Shada didn't reply. The inside of the ship was dark and she put the crates down in the middle of the floor. She would move them later in hyperspace. She then turned the lights on and went back down. "No." She told him, noting that he had begun moving the crates to the edge of the door.

He sighed. "Okay." After putting the last crate in the doorway, he turned toward her. "When you're done, just push the button on the right of the door to close it." She nodded and he left. Shada finished loading the crates then pushed the button after Crusher and Fang were aboard. She then went aboard herself and brought the ramp up behind her. She then headed into the cockpit and slid into the pilot's chair. _Alone at last._ She thought. She powered up the _Sun Crusher_ and lifted into the atmosphere. Crusher plugged into the control panel and downloaded whatever new information he had picked up.

"Crusher, once we get into hyperspace, you'll have to pilot on your own for a while. Okay?" The droid whistled an affirmative. Shada brought the _Sun Crusher_ out of Dathomir's orbit and set the course back to Emberlene.

When the nav-computer pinged at her, Shada pulled the lever that would bring the ship into hyperspace and watched as the stars became blue lines stretching into oblivion. Then she was in hyperspace and everything was black. She got up and went to where she had placed the crates. She would move them to a place that was hidden away from scanners, her mother's eyes, and her mother's senses. Kristi would never know she had them . . . if she ever found a way to get aboard the _Sun Crusher_ in the fist place. Shada knew that would never happen since the ship required her retinal pattern and her hand print to get aboard and the systems were wired so that even if Kristi used the Force to get it to open, it wouldn't. Instead, the ship would defend itself. Shada didn't know what those defensive measures were simply because no one had ever tried to get inside, but she imagined that the intruder would, more likely than not, be dead.

Shada spent the next ten minutes storing the crates then went back to the cockpit and dropped into the pilot's chair. She was asleep within minutes leaving Crusher to pilot and Fang to curl up at the base of the chair.

A/N: Review!!!!


	7. Chapter 7

Eight hours later, Shada woke up to the nav-computer pinging. It was telling her to drop the ship out of hyperspace. She pushed the lever up and the blue lines faded into stars this time. The world of Emberlene was in the viewport. It was mostly blue but there were tons of gray patches with green on them. Clouds floated above this and constantly moved around so if you were to sit in orbit an watch, you would never see the same area twice. When she had first been off planet, she had thought the place to be beautiful from space as supposed to being on ground all the time. When she had gotten home, she felt she'd rather look at it from orbit than live on it. But Emberlene was home. It always had been and it always would be and right now, there was a very pissed mother waiting for her. Shada could feel Kristi's anger even from orbit, which meant that there was a bit of fun to be had at home.

Shada brought the _Sun Crusher_ into orbit then landed on the top of the highest mountain on the entire planet. It was where the shack was, only now it wasn't a shack. It could be called a mansion, but unfortunately not a palace. "Come on guys." Shada said to Crusher and Fang. Both followed her to the ramp. She lowered it and was greeted by an infuriated Kristi Drake D'ukal.

"Where in space have you been?" She demanded as soon as Shada reached the bottom of the ramp.

Instead of answering right away, Shada raised the ramp and locked the _Sun Crusher_ up. "I got hung up. The senator didn't want to cooperate." She finally replied.

This comment seemed to make Kristi madder instead of calmer. Shada found it funny. "You were sent to cut him loose! He doesn't need to cooperate for that! Hell, you wouldn't cooperate if you were on the receiving end!"

"That wasn't exactly what I meant by he wouldn't cooperate." Shada told her. Her tone was calm and bored, which didn't ease Kristi's temper.

"Then what the hell did you mean?" Kristi demanded.

"Simply that he wouldn't stay put and decided to have me chase him from planet to planet." Shada answered, a cold smile on her face. "It was kind of fun though." _How easy it is to lie to her when she can't read my thoughts._ She thought.

Kristi took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She repeated this several times before continuing, which meant that she felt she'd get no where if she continued to yell at Shada. "Is there any reason you couldn't have said this first?" She finally asked.

Shada shrugged. "Honestly, I like it when you're pissed. You'd have smoke coming out of your ears if it were possible."

Kristi scowled at her. "Go eat." She said through clenched teeth.

Shada smirked at her and went inside. She was greeted by Xander as soon as she entered the hallway. "Kristi okay?" He asked, gazing past Shada's shoulder at her mother.

"A little pissed . . . no very pissed, but other than that she's perfe— mostly okay." Shada replied, snickering. "If you're asking about damage control, she's already been damaged beyond repair." She then stepped past Xander and went into the kitchen. The refrigerator was wide open and Shada just went over to it and grabbed a slice of Banja Cake. She then headed to her room, Crusher and Fang trailing behind her. The latter was still unnoticed by Kristi.

Shada walked up the stairs and all the way to the end of the hallway where her room was located. Compared to what this house had looked like before, it was now incredible what Shada had managed to do with it. Kristi had even let her do whatever she had wanted to do to it as well. Now the place was large enough to house maybe three families of four. Shada had added onto the apartment-sized shack, giving it two floors that extended out to the edge of the far side of the mountaintop. She had replaced the wooden walls with durasteel and the door that had been almost falling off, now slid in and out of the wall. The door also had a window at Kristi's eye level, which was the same height as Shada's was now, but had been just a little higher than hers two years ago.

The inside of the house was similar to the way things had been decorated at the Mistryl Palace Shada had burned down. The carpeting throughout the house was a scarlet red as were the curtains, the tablecloth, and towels. The walls were painted white throughout the house except in Shada's room. Kristi had refused to let Shada paint the walls any other color, but other than that had stayed out of the way. Shada's room was painted black and although Kristi had objected to this, Shada had ignored her and done it anyway. Shada had kept the rooms arranged the way they had been when she got there, but she had replaced or repaired all of the furniture and appliances. When Kristi had seen the amount of money Shada had had, and used to reconstruct the shack, she'd been surprised and that was putting it mildly. It had been more like astounded. Kristi hadn't asked where she'd gotten the money and if she had known that it had all came from the Mistryl Palace, she'd, more likely than not, go nuts.

As for Shada's room, she'd made sure that it was _exactly_ like the one she had sacrificed at the Palace. Well, almost exactly. The only difference was that it was bigger and it got darker at night. Otherwise it was arranged and painted the same and the walls had all the same posters of the same people killing the same other people in the same place they'd been in her old room. Shada had also put all her things she'd taken from her room at the Palace and put it in her room here. This had restored all the space she'd had on the _Sun Crusher_ before she'd blown the Palace.

Shada entered her room and Crusher immediately went to her closet. It was its own little room with her computer in it and clothes on the ends. It was sunken in more than an actual closet and the light switch was on the inside. Crusher pushed the chair out of his way and plugged into the computer, downloading everything he had downloaded about the _Crusher_. Shada sighed and walked over to the computer desk and put the chair she had left in his way back where it was supposed to go. She then put the stuff in her black backpack away.

Shada glanced at her chrono. It was six o'clock which meant that Kristi hadn't eaten yet. She headed for the door, Fang following her. "No, you stay here. I'll get you something to eat." The wolf retreated back to a corner in her closet.

Shada went downstairs and as she entered the kitchen Xander asked: "Want anything to eat?"

"Yeah, you guys eat yet?"

"No, I sensed your presence earlier and decided to wait until you got back." Kristi said from the doorway. She had clearly calmed down.

"How nice of you." Shada replied dryly.

"Before you start bickering again, dinner's ready." Xander intervened, putting two plates of steaming food on the table. He then pushed Kristi into a chair and turned to shove Shada into another one, but she had already sat down. He got a plate for himself and sat down next to Kristi. Shada rolled her eyes. She ate quickly and then went back to her room and crashed for the night, making sure the room was locked against Kristi should she get any murderous thoughts during the night.

A/N: Review!!!!


	8. Chapter 8

_The girl sneered at the older boy in front of her. "_Try it and you die._" She told him. She spoke in the Mistryl Battle Language. He didn't respond. Whether this was because he didn't understand her or not the girl didn't know. She didn't care. Her black hair blew in her face as the wind blew, but she ignored it. The boy moved closer to her. "You brain dead. Get lost or I'll kill you." She said, this time in English. This time the boy grinned at her. He then moved so close that he could have grabbed her if he wanted to. She didn't flinch. _Can't say I didn't warn you. _She thought. She struck then, the knife she had produced burying deep into his chest. She quickly recoiled the way she'd been taught. He didn't move, just stared at the bleeding whole in his chest. Then he looked up at her and grinned. She was surprised. He should have fallen over dead and he was grinning at her! He then grabbed her throat and —._

"Would you fucking wake up?!" A voice from the great beyond shouted at her. It was Kristi.

Shada's first thought was how the hell did she get in, then she saw Crusher sulking in the corner. "Would you —."

"I'm awake." Shada growled, cutting her off and sitting up. "_Why the hell did you let her in my room?" _She asked Crusher in Old Corellian. The droid whistled forlornly. [She was yelling at you to get up and I felt it was wise to let her in. Shada closed her eyes and sighed. "_You felt it was WISE?_" She asked. He whistled again. [Yes, you weren't sleeping well. He was silent. [Moaning. He finished. Shada growled again. "Get out." She told Kristi through clenched teeth. "I'm awake and not going back to sleep anytime soon."

"You realize you slept in?" Kristi asked her. "You should have been up hours ago."

"I just got back from your goddamn mission and you can't let me sleep in why?" Shada asked ignoring her initial question.

"Because I need you to do some work."

"Fine." Shada said, rolling to the edge of the bed. "But, I'm not going off planet 'til the day after tomorrow."

"Whatever. Just get up and get something to eat." With that Kristi left, letting the door slide closed behind her. Shada thought about trying to go back to sleep and decided against it. She didn't want Crusher letting Kristi in her room again.

"I don't want you letting her in again." She told Crusher as she got dressed. "Got it?" He whistled an affirmative at her. [Never again. "Good. Stay here with Fang." She left, heading downstairs to the kitchen.

Xander greeted her as she entered the kitchen. "Hey Shada, I was getting worried about you, you never sleep in."

"There's a first time for everything." She replied, grabbing something to eat from the fridge.

"You know, I think the only reason Kristi woke you up was that she was worried too."

"That would be surprising. Not to mention unlikely. The only one Kristi cares about is herself . . . maybe you." She sneered at Xander. "Even that's pushing it. She definitely doesn't give a rat's ass about me unless she's got me working."

"That's not entirely true, Shada." Kristi said from the doorway. "You're my daughter, and since I haven't killed you yet I must care about you just a little." She raised her eyebrow, daring Shada to come up with a response. Unfortunately for her Shada had already covered this line of thought tons of times. And Sky had once told her that she could outargue her mother any day of the year.

"You keep me alive because you need me. That's the only reason and you know it." Shada replied.

"You are good, aren't you?" Her mother replied, sarcastically. She didn't respond though. She couldn't respond. Shada was right and she had used the same cruel logic Kristi was skilled at using on Xander with the knowledge that Kristi had been at the door. It wasn't the fact that she had used the logic on Xander that agitated Kristi either. It was the fact that her daughter had actually known that Kristi had every intention of killing Shada once she was finished with the eighteen-year-old. She also knew that Shada was using her for something and once she was done with Kristi that she would kill her as well. Unfortunately, Kristi didn't know what Shada was planning or when it would be finished, but she had vowed to herself that she would be ready for the girl when she came to kill her.

"Emberlene to Kristi." Shada called. She was sneering at her. "You home in there? Or did you leave finally?"

"Shut up." Kristi noted that Shada hadn't switched languages yet. "Come on you have work to do."

Shada glanced over at Xander. "See." She said and followed Kristi out the door.

A/N: Review!!!!


End file.
